(ii) The FAA's determination that risk to third parties and Government property as a result of licensed launch or permitted activities is sufficiently small that financial responsibility is no longer necessary. That determination is made through the risk analysis conducted before the launch to determine MPL and specified in a license or permit order.

(b)Financial responsibility required under this part may not be replaced, canceled, changed, withdrawn, or in any way modified to reduce the limits of liability or the extent of coverage, nor expire by its own terms, prior to the time specified in a license or permit order, unless the FAA is notified at least 30 days in advance and expressly approves the modification.

This is a list of United States Code sections, Statutes at Large, Public Laws, and Presidential Documents, which provide rulemaking authority for this CFR Part.

The FAA is amending its commercial space regulations governing reciprocal waivers of claims to require that customers waive claims against all the customers involved in a launch or reentry, including those signing a different set of reciprocal waivers. Also, customers of a customer contracting directly with a licensee or permittee will not have to sign a waiver directly with the licensee or permittee, other customers, or the FAA. The FAA is also adding an appendix to provide permittees with an example of a Waiver of Claims and Assumption of Responsibility for Permitted Activities with No Customer.

2015-06-15; vol. 80 # 114 - Monday, June 15, 2015

80 FR 34110 - Reciprocal Waivers of Claims for Licensed or Permitted Launch and Reentry Activities; Reopening of Comment Period

The comment period for the NPRM published on January 13, 2015 (80 FR 1590), closed March 16, 2015, and is reopened until July 15, 2015.

14 CFR Part 440

Summary

This action reopens the comment period for the regulatory evaluation associated with the FAA's January 13, 2015 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Reciprocal Waivers of Claims for Licensed or Permitted Launch and Reentry Activities. The FAA has discovered that this regulatory evaluation was not posted to the docket prior to the close of the NPRM's comment period. Therefore, the FAA is reopening the comment period to allow the public the opportunity to adequately analyze the full regulatory evaluation for the NPRM. The FAA will accept comment on the regulatory evaluation only, and not on the regulatory changes proposed in the NPRM.

The FAA proposes to amend the reciprocal waivers of claims regulations so that customers would waive claims against all the customers involved in a launch or reentry, including those signing a different set of reciprocal waivers. Also, customers of any customer contracting directly with a licensee or permittee would not have to sign a waiver directly with the licensee or permittee, other customers, or the FAA. The FAA also proposes to add an appendix to provide permittees with an example of a Waiver of Claims and Assumption of Responsibility for Permitted Activities with No Customer. The proposed rule would incorporate the reciprocal waiver of claims requirements in the regulatory text, ensure that customers would waive claims against all other customers involved in a launch or reentry, including those signing different reciprocal waivers, reduce the need for licensees and permittees to request a partial waiver of the reciprocal waiver of claims requirements and for the FAA to process those requests, and provide a reciprocal waiver template for permittees with no customers, reducing the need for the FAA to assist such a permittee in drafting its cross waivers.

2012-10-16; vol. 77 # 200 - Tuesday, October 16, 2012

77 FR 63221 - Waiver of Requirement To Enter Into a Reciprocal Waiver of Claims Agreement With All Customers

This notice concerns a petition for waiver submitted to the FAA by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) to waive in part the requirement that a launch operator enter into a reciprocal waiver of claims with each customer. The FAA grants the petition.

In 2010, Congress transferred the statute authorizing the FAA's commercial space transportation regulations. This action is necessary to correct affected citations in the Code of Federal Regulations to reflect this transfer of authority. The intended effect of this action is to make the affected regulations comply with the statute.